


spinning to a stop

by raihaqyaza



Category: NU'EST, PRISTIN (Band)
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, F/M, Kyla where you at, current seungcheol/jeonghan, just a bunch of stuff that actually happened except for the relationship itself, kyulkyung and dongho are buddies, mention of afterschool, mention of hyuna and edawn, mention of ioi, mention of nu'est ensamble, mention of predebut era, mention of pristin ensamble, mention of seventeen ensamble, nct cameo, past nayoung/seungcheol, pledis family, pristin hiatus era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-08-11 09:59:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16473398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raihaqyaza/pseuds/raihaqyaza
Summary: In a single moment, Nayoung's world settles on a single boy named Kim Jonghyun.





	spinning to a stop

**Author's Note:**

> Loosely related to Before Anything Else, so you can check that out if you're invested on the background of Nayoung and Seungcheol's relationship. 
> 
> NCT makes a cameo because I'm starting to Stan them.

The first time Nayoung lays eyes on Jonghyun, she feels shivers running down her back.

It isn’t because of Jonghyun, smiling at her with all the warmth and encouragement that he naturally has. It definitely isn’t Jonghyun, somehow convincing her to stay with that calm, gentle charisma that hides behind his eyes.

No, it is Nana- _unnie_ , sharp eyes narrowing at her entrance, it is Raina- _unnie_ , laughter transforming into something of a sly grin as her gaze rakes over Nayoung’s figure, head to toe.

(Nayoung, young and naïve, does not realize at this moment that she is unwanted because her presence means an end and threat to their career.) 

They watch her expectantly over Jonghyun’s oblivious shoulder, and Nayoung wants nothing more than to turn around and leave, to tell her mother that it is okay after all, she doesn’t necessarily need to be an idol, she can study hard and work a decent paying job and become a normal citizen of South Korea.

Jonghyun flashes her a smile, then. He is breathtaking and youthful, and he greets her with this; “Welcome, my name is Jonghyun, I’m also seventeen years old, let’s work hard together!” 

And despite the _sunbaenim_ who are standing intimidatingly behind him, watching her with curiosity and fake casualness, his smile settles something within Nayoung. In a quarter of a second, the anxiousness that has been gnawing in her stomach fades, replaced with budding determination that is slowly turning into strength.

Something calms in her stomach, and Nayoung finds a strand of courage somewhere in that calamity.

She clenches her sweaty palms into fists and smiles back, “My name is Im Nayoung, I will do my best!”

Nayoung is young at heart and within this galaxy, her universe has not yet set on a single center to revolve around, and so she looks at Jonghyun and thinks the world has finally stopped spinning—

In a single moment, it settles on this boy named Kim Jonghyun.

Without a sliver of doubt, Nayoung stays. 

* * *

Years later.

Nayoung eventually says yes to Jonghyun’s constant, insistent invitation to dinner after her friendship with Seungcheol took a halt, and so they always go out to eat these days, just the two of them. 

Call it a coincidence, call it Pledis’ luck, but while Seventeen is off doing their own thing, Nu’est W and Pristin have been booked for joint schedules for the past few months, starting from School Attack, and other summer concerts.

They fall into a routine, together.

In days like this, they leave for breakfast run after morning practice, sometimes with their members and sometimes just the two of them. Then, they will leave to their schedule’s location in separate vans for the sake of their fans, and finally, when all is wrapped and their managers announce they can leave, Jonghyun and Nayoung will exchange one look and head to dinner together, sometimes going all the way to Nayoung’s parents’ place.

“How is everything with Seungcheol?” Jonghyun would usually ask as she pours him a drink.

“We’re good,” Nayoung would reply stiffly, not because she is unwilling to share what’s in her heart, but mostly due to not really having anything to talk about. 

She has stopped speaking to Seungcheol completely after they decided to re-start their friendship from scratch. She is still not quite used to the lack of intimacy, and her heart definitely still threatens to fall over and break apart every time she sees him around, so they eventually decided to keep a respectable, professional distance from one another for now, until they can figure out where their new comfort zones are around one another.

Today is different, however, because Nayoung doesn’t hold her breath and stiffen. Instead, she sips her drink and offers him a smile that doesn’t quite reach her eyes.

She is currently visiting their dorm with Kyulkyung, who insisted she has to see Lucky and catch up with Dongho for their monthly gossip session, where, really, it’s usually her spilling everything she knows and then demanding updates on Dongho’s love life with a certain younger idol.

Sitting next to him on his bed, Nayoung tells him softly, “We had a talk this morning.”

Jonghyun pauses, glass stopping mid-air and voice filled with careful concern. “How did it go?”

Nayoung grips hard on her own glass and exhales, not really looking anywhere. She goes over the quick meeting in her head and concludes, “He will always be my friend, but I think it’ll take a while until we go back to the way we used to be.” 

Jonghyun doesn’t say anything. He watches her, waiting.

Ignoring the stabbing pain in her heart is easier when she is not with someone who can read right through her soul. Doesn’t matter, she’s okay, she has been okay for a while now, she’s moved on and it’s a mutual decision and she is happy for him, and she need to let it go, but—

 Regardless, she shakes, and her tears fall.

In a blur, her glass is pried gently away from her hands and a familiar pair of arms is pulling her in a comforting embrace.  

Even as she sobs soundlessly, he doesn’t say anything. He simply rubs her back in soothing motion and takes her hand in his. He doesn’t murmur sweet nothings in her ear like Seungcheol would, and he doesn’t promise that everything will be okay. He stays quiet and lets her get through her own pain by herself, and she is forever thankful for his silent support.

It is a different kind of comfort to what she is used to, and it is just as familiar as it is something new, but Nayoung is a shattered glass, broken pieces lying on the floor, and so at this point, she will take whatever’s there that can help her get back up and heal.

It is only a coincidence, she thinks, that what’s there this time around, is no other than Kim Jonghyun.

That night, she stays until the world shines just a little brighter.

* * *

 

The truth is, Nayoung doesn’t necessarily know why Jonghyun is taking extra care of her lately. Doesn't want to find out, too.

With a twinge of regret, Nayoung remembers that they kind of lost contact after Nu’est were sent off to Japan. She tried, just like Seungcheol and Jihoon who tried to at least catch up with them every once in a while, but then Nayoung got busier with time, and so they fell apart completely for a short while, until Jonghyun came knocking one day, asking for advise before he leaves for Produce 101.

Nayoung had stopped everything she was doing and cradled him in her arms as she let him wet the sleeves of her practice gear.

At first, she thought maybe he was only picking up where they left off because he felt guilty, but now that she thinks about it, maybe it is also because it is simply in his nature to take lost people under his wings so he can heal the sadness away.

She doesn’t question him. After all, it is a nice distraction from the pain that is starting dull. She’ll let him take her in as his personal pet project until he gets bored or too busy for the likes of her. At the end of the day, it’s not like the company has any schedule for her and her girls anyway.

(Her anger simmers, and she takes a deep breath to calm down.)

 In her free time, she leaves her girls to their own activities. Things have been strained back in the dorm lately, what with the fact that it has been a year since their last comeback.

 As a leader, Nayoung knows that it is her responsibility to get them to talk things out. It is certainly healthier than constantly muttering under their breath, bashing on the girl that put them into hiatus to begin with, or whining in jealousy about the girl that continuously gets booked despite said hiatus.

 That’s her problem for another day. She will get to the bottom of that soon. Right now, she needs to unwind.  

 After Produce, Jonghyun’s popularity has grown into something incomparable, and she is not only talking about his steadily increasing global and local fan base. No, she’s talking about his popularity connection wise, about the many A-list celebrities that Jonghyun has wrapped around his fingers, and Nayoung is nothing if not happy and proud for him.

 Truly, he deserves this more than anyone else.

 And this connection leads her here today, with Jonghyun, in one of the top-secret A-list celebrity social clubhouse in Seoul. Nayoung herself has been here before, when she was an active member of IOI and the world was kissing down on her feet. She doesn’t know if they would grant her access today if she weren’t with Jonghyun. It’s sobering how they barely recognize her these days. It reminds her how the world will forget you just as quickly as they will declare their undying, endless love for you.

 Being here, she can’t help but to feel better, to feel confident again in her own skin. 

“I see some of my friends there, can we go greet them?” Jonghyun asks, straw in between his teeth as they sit across one another in one of the booths in the corner of the ground floor. They still have a long way to go to be granted access in the higher floors.

 Nayoung turns, eyeing the high profile male idols that just made their entrance and are currently handing over their disguise to one of the staffs for safekeeping.

 She recognizes them in an instant. She has to hold herself back from snorting, trust SM to be able to register whomever they want, so early in their career.

(She realizes at this moment that she is kind of a rookie too, and has no room to talk, but she can never forget the fact that 138,726 people loved her the most out of everyone else, once upon a time.)

Even to this day, Nayoung knows for fact that only a handful of Seventeen are granted access, such as the likes of Seungkwan, who is loved by all, or Mingyu, who is climbing on the industry’s hierarchy very, very steadily, or even Jihoon, who has been invited to this place numerous times by those hoping for him to finally make some time to produce songs for other artists as well.

(They would have contacted the CEO, if Jihoon hadn’t declared that he was the boss of himself and the company does not have any say in which groups or artists he composes for. IOI got Downpour only because Nayoung asked, only because she is like his older sister.) 

She shoots Jonghyun a smile, half judging. “They’re your friends, now?”

Jonghyun stares her down flatly, “You know what I mean.”

She does. She has her fair share of _friends_ in the industry, too. 

Nayoung grabs her purse. “Let’s go, then.”

She casually hooks an arm around his as they make their way over. 

There’s a reason why this place is a haven for celebrities in a country like South Korea. There’s a reason why you will often see Hyuna and Hyojong here, cozy and happy in their own world. The walls of these building are only silent witness and nothing else. That’s the kind of privilege they offer, the kind of privilege she can only share with Kyulkyung and some of her IOI members.

Nayoung adorns a well-practiced smile as Jonghyun greets them and they trade small pleasantries. 

“I used to see you here more often,” one of them say kindly—Doyoung, if Nayoung’s remembers correctly. 

A memory of him appears in the back of her mind, of a boy who used to throw shy glance towards their table, all those months ago. Her smirk appears before she gets to stop herself, “I used to come here a lot with Sejeong, yes.”

The rest of the boys break into loud hollers, all teasing him with a loud chorus of ‘ooh’ as Doyoung ducks his head, ears flushing red.

Nayoung laughs with them, “I was busy with university for a while.”

“It’s great that you can balance both lives,” the tall one—Johnny, says.

Nayoung has been under the camera far too often to let her persona slip. She shakes her head instead, bashful. It isn’t like she can tell them that she’s not really doing that much balancing, between her university life and her barely existent idol career, these days.

It is Jonghyun who safes her, like he does often lately. “Well, we’re going to head back, it was nice seeing you guys.”

Nayoung let them exchange fist bumps and claps on the shoulder one last time, before she tugs his arm subtly.

 Before they get to make their way back to their own booth, Taeyong stops them with a kind grin, “You guys look great together.”

 Nayoung stops, and she watches a shy smile form in Jonghyun’s face.

 She waits, and when he doesn’t say anything to contradict Taeyong, something stirs.

  _Oh._

There is butterfly twitching from the dead somewhere inside her, and she doesn’t try to stop the grin that threatens to show. It feels strange, for it has been awhile since she smiled with such sincerity.

Shifting closer to Jonghyun, she allows herself this; she turns, throws Taeyong a small grin over her shoulder as she walks away, and mouths, “Thank you.”

She thinks she is getting ahead of herself, because this is leading to somewhere new and Nayoung has never been spontaneous even once in her life, hence why she was content with settling with what’s logical and made sense before, but—

“Dinner at my place tomorrow?” Jonghyun suggest, easy and casual as they slip back to their booth.

Nayoung searches him for a motive that can explain this sudden, different behavior, but Jonghyun has learned what Nayoung learned from Produce, and that is to conceal yourself and let only what’s necessary shine.

Well, only one way to find out.

“Lunch on me the day after, then.” Nayoung hears herself reply.

Something lights up in his eyes, “Deal.”

There is a flutter of butterfly wings again somewhere in her stomach.

Nayoung ducks and lets her hair fall to hide the flush in her cheeks, “Deal.” 

The world this time is steady and tastes like drying green grass that twinkles under the sunlight after a long day of thundering, pouring rain.

* * *

 

Nayoung being Nayoung, she still feels the need to make sense of what happened one day later.

First of all, she is not used to this spontaneity. 

“It’s like, he’s letting me name whatever we are because he doesn’t want to make me feel uncomfortable in case he gets it wrong,” Nayoung tells Kyulkyung in a small voice the next day, as they make themselves cozy on the sofa at the humble living room of Nu’est’s dorm. She adds, “And—it’s like as if he’s willing to accept whatever I want us to be.”

When they accidentally bumped into one another at the entrance of their dorm, with Nayoung on her way to the parking lot and Kyulkyung just arriving home from her schedule in China, it only took the other girl one guess before she demanded to come along. After checking that Dongho will be there to keep her company, Nayoung simply told her to get into the car with a fond roll of her eyes.

 You don’t really tell Kyulkyung no, that’s kind of the unwritten rule shared by a lot of people who are wrapped around her tiny fingers. Dongho didn’t even bother stopping her when the first thing Kyulkyung did the moment they arrived was to go through his closet for something more comfortable to wear, namely his shirt that is multiple size too big on her slim figure.

“Gossip louder!” Minki calls from the kitchen.

 Kyulkyung snorts and yells back, “Do us a favor and make Aron-oppa cook instead, I refuse to be poisoned!”

 “I’ll show you poison!” he hollers back, followed by Jonghyun and Dongho’s feint laughter from the distance.

 Kyulkyung rolls her eyes in mirth and turns back to Nayoung. She asks, voice equally soft, “Are you sure,  _unnie_?”

Nayoung stares off into the distance, where photos of Nu’est, all five members, decorate the white walls of the dorm. She finds Jonghyun in one of the photos, younger but smiling just as brilliantly as he does today. “He cares about me. He’s cared, since day one.” 

At least she knows this to be true.

“But never like that,” Kyulkyung hugs the cushion on her lap tighter as she leans sideways on the sofa. She looks thoughtful as she tells Nayoung, “I’ve always seen your relationship with him like mine with Dongho- _oppa_.”

“No,” Nayoung disagrees with an easy smile. “You know we were never that comfortable.”

Kyulkyung and Dongho share something far beyond what she and Jonghyun share, they are so much like actual siblings that they would fart and pick nose in front of one another.

 “ _Unnie_ , you’ve always been so sure of what you wanted with Seungcheol- _oppa_ ,” Kyulkyung says.

Nayoung takes a dreep breath. “Well, we can’t have that anymore, now, can we? Clearly he and I want different things.”

“Right, but Jonghyun- _oppa_ has never been in the picture before. He’s always been just a close friend. It would make so much more sense if it were Chungha- _unnie_ or something.”

Nayoung chuckles, “It wouldn’t make sense, you know that.”

“But still,” Kyulkyung catches her hand and entangles their fingers together. “You haven’t had the chance to get _better_. I don’t know if this is going to do you any good.”

Nayoung can’t tell her she is doing this exactly because it makes her feel better. She doesn't think she can say how in her moment of weakness, she feels like she is being patched together, piece-by-piece, by Jonghyun.

With a rueful smile, she simply clenches her fingers around hers.

“If he’s just a rebound, you know you’re going to have to answer to Junghyun,” Kyulkyung flicks Nayoung’s nose. 

“Who’s going to have to answer to Junghyun?” Jonghyun enters the living room bringing a tray filled with various dish for dinner in his hands, with apron still adorning his homey outfit.

Nayoung doesn’t reply, eyes narrowing dangerously at the amount of food he’s prepared as he places the tray down on the coffee table. “I told you I’m not eating rice.” 

“My house, my rule.” he sits next to her and picks up a bowl, handing it over to her. “Eat.”

She lifts her brows, not budging.

Jonghyun stares back, smirk on his lips.

 Kyulkyung clears her throat and gets up, “I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me.”

 Nayoung barely acknowledges her with a nod before the younger girl slips away.

 “You seriously need to eat,” Jonghyun picks up the chopstick and presses them to her hands.

 Nayoung pushes his hands away. “I ate earlier, I’m still full.”

“Eat anyway,” he insists. 

“I will, just not that much.”

 “No, you need to gain weight,” he says, eyes assessing her slim waist.

 Nayoung thinks this conversation is ridiculous and she enjoys it anyway. “Jonghyun, I’ve gained weight.” 

He doesn’t reply, eyes narrowing and lower lip jutting out like he’s in a deep thought. “You’re right,” he agrees easily. “Me too.”

 Nayoung shakes her head at his response and chuckles. She points to one particular photo behind him, “Look, we were so skinny back then, when we were trainees.” 

 Jonghyun breaks into a nostalgic grin, “We were so unhealthy then.”

“We were,” Nayoung joins him. “I don’t know how I managed to do high school and being a trainee at the same time.”

(This is a lie. She does know how. It is as simple as because a certain someone managed to convince her to stay, day by day.)

“Hey, it was fun while it last,” he nudges her, smile warm and eyes soft. 

She whips out her phone and scrolls through her photo gallery, until she finds the one photo that comes to her mind. She shows it to him, “Here, look. This photo of yours is my favorite, just the perfect weight, and most of all, healthy and happy.” 

It’s a photo that Dongho shared in Pledis’ 95 line’s group chat quite recently, of Jonghyun who is grinning tiredly to the camera. From the background, Nayoung recognizes it to be the gym that Pledis artists usually go to. In the photo, his hair is stuck to his forehead, which is glistening spectacularly in dripping sweat. The photo reminds her of Jonghyun back in his teenage years, when he just started working out and always showing her excitedly of the progress he made. 

“I like you how you were back then, but I like you just the way that you are now too,” Nayoung tells him, and he grins in response. “You and everyone else. I was especially concerned for Minki’s body weight last year, when you guys were recording for Produce.”

His smile tightens at the mention of Produce for a nanosecond, before it relaxes again. “I also like you the way that you are now.”

Nayoung looks down to her nails and smiles, “Yeah?”

Jonghyun pulls out his phone. “Here, I’ll show you my favorite photo of yours.”

Nayoung looks up in surprise. “What?”

Jonghyun scoots closer to her and pulls up Kakao Talk application. He taps on her Kakao ID, where their chat history appears along with the background wallpaper that he chose specifically for her account.

She stares at the photo. 

It is Nayoung in all of her barefaced glory, cozy on her bed back in the dorm, posing to the camera with a peace sign while wearing the Double You concert’s merchandise t-shirt that every Pledis artists and staffs owns. 

She remembers Xiyeon taking that photo once upon a time, just because. She must have sent it to him, the little matchmaker wannabe.

Despite the warmth in her heart, Nayoung chews her lower lip, uncertain as to how she could respond.

She—

She needs to think.

“I look chubby there,” Nayoung reaches and presses the lock button, his screen immediately fading to black. There, better. “There must be better photos out there, come on.”

They proceed to have dinner after Aron arrived home from wherever he just snuck out to, and Dongho personally offered to drive Nayoung and Kyulkyung back to their dorm way pass curfew after.

In the comfortable silence of the car, Nayoung later wondered why she didn't see it coming.

Dongho turns down the volume of the music and asks, “What are you doing?”

Nayoung doesn’t have to ask him to clarify to whom he’s talking to. She knows warning when she hears one. 

In the shotgun seat, Kyulkyung stays glued to her phone, though Nayoung knows she can’t help but to listen. 

It takes everything she has to not ask the same question to Dongho, to find out exactly what Jonghyun is doing with her.

She doesn’t immediately answer. She stares out to the window and asks back, “Should I stop?”

Their eyes meet for a brief second through the rearview mirror. 

“I can’t tell you what to do.”

“No, but you can tell me what you think.”

Dongho takes a moment before he replies, “He’s a good guy.”

Nayoung nods, she knows that much.

“As a friend, he just wants you to be okay.”

If that stings, Nayoung doesn’t let Dongho and Kyulkyung see.

They share a glance again before Dongho continues, “As a guy, he craves for something close to romance just like everybody else. It’s been long overdue.”

Nayoung stops breathing, his statement echoing in her ears. 

They have arrived at Pristin’s dorm. 

Dongho undoes his seatbelt and turns in his seat to face her. His eyes are serious as he says, “You need to figure out what you want. He’ll forgive you if you mess up, but Minhyun and I won’t. Our career is finally getting to where we want it to be after years and years, and we’re guaranteed to hit it big next year. The guys and I, all four of us—we want him to be able to fully bask in the glory he’ll get. We’re not going to let a stupid heartbreak ruin this for him.”

Nayoung understands him so much that it is almost painful. She gets him, because she’s been craving this for Jonghyun, too. In every schedule that they were sent to together, Nayoung would look at him from afar on set and thank the Heavens for saving him from giving up on his dreams and fading away from the industry completely.

She hopes Dongho can see her sincerity as she agrees, “It is only what he deserves.”

He nods, and turns back.

Nayoung meets Kyulkyung’s eyes through the rearview mirror and easily takes the hint that they would like to be left alone.

(There are times when Nayoung can’t be her girls’ everything, and she has long since accepted that it is only natural.)

She gathers her bag and wishes them goodnight.

Before she goes to bed, Nayoung checks her phone one last time. There are two texts from Jonghyun. The first is a photo from the past that the Internet doesn’t have, a photo of just the two of them, back when he’s debuted and she’s still just a trainee. The second text is a simple message: _I like this photo, too._

It takes Nayoung another second to realize that his profile picture has changed to that photo, though heavily edited with filters. She grits her teeth in uncertainty, because Jonghyun must know what this implies. He must know that numerous idols saved in his contact are going to see this photo and assume they are together. Idols, they don’t—they don’t do this, unless they wish to make a bold statement, and even then, it is usually nothing but cheap PR.

She doesn’t necessarily care what her fellow Pledis artists think about the photo, but others, like Sejeong, whose number Jonghyun has after that one time they went to variety together, or other idols, can easily get the wrong idea.

This is her career at stake—and her heart, too, though it is too soon for her to admit it—so should he not think it through, whatever it is that he wants?

Nevertheless, Nayoung doesn’t think twice before she saves the photo and switches her phone to airplane mode, leaving Jonghyun on read.

If Nayoung were Minkyung, she thinks this is how she would have answered to Dongho’s first question. Into the dark room, with her sleeping members as her witness, she mutters, “Hell if I know what I’m doing anymore.”

That, she realizes, is a first for her.

* * *

Nayoung chooses her parents’ place for lunch the day after, just because she knows Jonghyun would refuse her paying for their meal if it were anywhere else. In this 21st century, chivalry is somehow not lost on Jonghyun, and so taking him to her parents’ place, where meal will be on the house, is her best option.

His manager—Taehyuk- _hyung_ —tells them from the driver seat as they pull up at her parents’ restaurant’s parking lot, “Another manager and I will be picking Jonghyun up for his next schedule in 3 hours. Have fun, kids." 

Jonghyun thanks him and gets off from the car first, and Nayoung knows to wait because this is what he does: he gets off, walks all the way to her side of the car, opens the door for her, takes her hand, and then helps her get off.

Nayoung is in no way incapable of doing any of this by herself. She simply lets him because he has repeatedly insisted that doing it makes him happy, and so who is she to deny that from him? 

(In all honesty, it makes her happy, too.)

Her parents aren’t there today, going off on a trip somewhere, and they immediately head to their usual table in the corner, away from public eyes despite having made sure that the restaurant will be closed off while they are there.

After they order, Nayoung clears her throat, “It was a cute photo you sent me last night.”

He grins, “I found it in my computer while I was clearing up some data space for this new game I was downloading.”

Of course.

She laughs, “I don’t know how you still have time for gaming, Jonghyun-ah.”

“It’s therapeutic,” he shrugs. “Life is so different these days that you kind of need something to get back to, to remember your roots, where you came from.”

She gets where he’s going. An _anchor_ , most idols in this industry will call it. You lose your anchor and you’re gone for good. Seungcheol’s are his members and video games. Jonghyun’s, too, are his members and video games. Nayoung’s—

It used to be her members, all 10 of them, and then 9 of them. It used to be Seungcheol, in all of his charming prince and flirtatious glory. Her fame? It’s not like it’s anything spectacular. She doesn’t know now, can’t really say for sure.

His eyes look wistful, “It’s easy to forget sometimes.”

She doesn’t blame him.

She leans forward, “How is it, then? Life in fame.”

Jonghyun looks around, like as though he is trying to come up with the perfect word to explain how he feels. “It’s… nice.”

Being able to relate to that, Nayoung chuckles. 

“They always say it’s a different kind of cut-throat to being a no-name idol, and God knows how often Minhyun curses his—fans? I don’t think you can call them fans, but, well, fans, who overdo everything out of their infatuation and become right down hostile, but our LOVEs, they’re so peaceful and mature, and I’m extremely lucky to have such respectful fans.”

Nayoung nods, a tad bit envious but proud nevertheless.

He continues, “After Produce, I thought having that many eyes on you must feel suffocating, but for the first time, I felt like I was untouchable. I still feel that way sometimes.”

“Is it because you believe that they’ll do whatever it takes to make sure you’re employed?” Nayoung asks, resting her chin on her palm.

Jonghyun flushes in embarrassment, “I know I sound narcissistic and overly confident— "

“No,” Nayoung cuts him, shaking her head. “As a fan, I understand how they must feel. I’d rather kill myself first before something bad happens to you.”

He looks up in surprise. His mouth opens, but before he gets to say anything, she says fast, “It’s not just them. I think it’s also all the _sunbaenims_ and PDs who can relate to you, who constantly yearn to take care of you, to make sure that you’re happy.”

He laughs and shakes his head in denial, “It’s for the ratings, Nayoung-ie.”

Nayoung scoffs, “No, they invite _me_ for ratings. They don’t care about what I’ve been doing or how my girls are. I was the leader of the nation’s girl group and I will always carry that with me, just like how they will always ask for Sejeong and Mina, or Yoojung and Doyeon for variety shows.”

He frowns as though as he disagrees, but Nayoung is not going to let him contradict her on this. She knows her worth, knows she only gets job these days because her name is put on the roster for when broadcasting studios face _no interesting idols are promoting, let’s get IOI_ situation.

“They genuinely like you,” she spells out for him. “Older celebrities, your fans, even fellow idols. You became the embodiment of hope for those who haven’t made it in this industry, and a symbol of struggle and hardship to those who have.”

He doesn’t deny it as they share a long look, both letting her words sink in.

She’s glad for it. He deserves to acknowledge that his worth is immeasurable.

There is a small smile of awe and disbelief on his face as the waitress comes to with their food, and Nayoung helps her set the table to speed up the process.

She takes one last look on that addictive smile, picks up her chopstick, and decides to change the topic, “So, what else is nice about fame, Jonghyun- _ssi_? Oh, what about all those girls, the _noonas_ who fall head over heels for you when you flash them your adorable, precious smile?”

Jonghyun laughs as he picks up his own chopstick. “The girls _are_ nice, too,” he grins.

Nayoung lifts her brows at his bold admittance. It sounds strange in her ears and he sounds out of character like this. The old Jonghyun would have flushed red by now at the idea of girls.

(She would know, she was subjected to his pathetic, stammering request for a kissing practice that one time, before he had to shoot Hello.)

He scoops a mouthful of rice, and their eyes meet for a brief second. There is a mischievous grin that she sees often these days, and nothing in this world could have prepared her for what he says next;

“But _you’re_ nicer.”

Nayoung is called _Stone Nayoung_ for a reason, she can easily hold back her reaction from this sudden disrespect—

A huge smile blossoms anyway, and she hides her face behind her hand.

She—

She doesn’t know what she’s doing, but she can’t deny the fact that she truly, truly likes the world she lives in right now. 

* * *

 

The ride home with Taehyuk- _oppa_ is never quiet. Despite having only known him outside of professional setting very recently, Nayoung finds that he is someone who can easily switch roles from a manager to a caring friend whenever necessary. It is unfortunate how often the world forgets that idols are nothing without the constant support from those on the other side of the camera, without those who work just as hard to ensure their idols remain sane and human in this harsh environment.

“I’m glad I stayed with them for as long as I did,” Taehyuk shares from the driver seat, with Nayoung sitting next to him. Before Jonghyun left to his next schedule with another manager, he has made sure that Taehyuk will take Nayoung to her dorm (or the company) whenever she’s ready to go.

Nayoung has refused and told him she has her own manager, but it didn’t take long until her resolve weakened to his insistence.

“It must have been quite the journey for you, too,” Nayoung hums.

“It still is,” Taehyuk grins proudly. The sight warms Nayoung’s heart. “You won’t believe how crazy their lives are these days. Even if they’ve been in the industry for a while, there are always new things that surprises them—and me, too." 

“Like what?" 

“Like that rookie idol who's been very hands-on towards Jonghyun- _ah_ , for instance.” Taehyuk slows as they approach the red light down in the intersection. 

Nayoung lifts her brows. “What?”

They stop.

He throws her a glance, “He didn’t tell you?”

She shakes her head. “Which rookie group?”

There are tons, but Nayoung is still influential enough to be able to find her and have a word or two.

“He wouldn’t say, I wouldn’t have known anything if it weren’t from Minki who complained endlessly about how poor Jonghyun-ah is too kind to say no.”

Nayoung looks away to the window, staring at nothing in particular. Remembering what Dongho has told her very recently, she can’t help but to mumble, “Maybe he enjoys it.”

Taehyuk laughs, “Come on, you know he’s not like that.”

Again, Dongho’s words echoes. “He’s still a guy.”

Taehyuk cackles.

“With all due respect, that girl is out of his league. He knows he has an image to maintain, so he thinks saying no isn’t really the smartest thing, even though, let’s be real, we know whatever she’s going to spread is never going to affect his career, not in a million years. The media likes him too much.” Taehyuk throws her a grin, “I wouldn’t worry about it.”

Nayoung forces a chuckle, “I’m not worried.”

“He said he’s taken care of it, so it’s all good.”

Nayoung turns to him questioningly.

Taehyuk shrugs as he parks the car near Pledis’ new building. “Said something about sending subtle hints that he’s already taken and whatnot.”

 _Ah,_ that’s why.

Nayoung is smart and has always been able to pick up hints and put two and two together fast. 

Entering the new Pledis building, she doesn’t bother bowing back to Fromis_9 who scramble to their feet at her entrance or the other staff members. She whips out her phone and sends him a text straight away.

_That’s why you changed your profile photo, so that rookie girl backs off._

The shooting must have not started yet, because Nayoung gets an immediate response.

 _What?_

_No, I changed it because I genuinely liked it._

She stops in her heels, the deep frown that has previously been there on her brows relaxing. Sudden guilt washes over.

 _Oh._

_Sorry for jumping into conclusion, then._

_No, it’s fine._

_I should have asked._  

 

_No, I’m sorry._

_Good luck at work._

Nayoung knows she doesn’t have to check her phone before she goes to bed later to know that Jonghyun’s profile will display a different picture the next day.

Now that Jonghyun admitted why he set their photo as his profile picture, she doesn’t know how to feel about it, or if she feels anything at all. 

Would he have kept the photo, if Nayoung hadn’t said anything? If he changed it because he genuinely liked it, then did he really want other idols in his contact to assume they are together? If so, why? How will that benefit him, or her? Neither Jonghyun nor Nayoung were overly public with their lives before, so what made him think she would go along with it without asking questions? 

What game is he playing, and is Nayoung just a pawn, or is she a second player in this game?

Most importantly, what is the objective, if there is any?

“Oh, _unnie_.”

Nayoung snaps away from her thoughts.

“Kyulkyungie,” she greets the Chinese girl who is sitting by herself at the lounge. “I thought you had the day off?”

There is a tear streak on her face, and her usual cheerful demeanor is replaced by a dejected expression as she pulls her knee up on the sofa, hugging them tight. For the first time since 2016, Kyulkyung looks defeated, small, and vulnerable. 

There is only one explanation why she rather stays here instead of the dorm.

Nayoung drops her purse on the table and gathers the girl to her arm, where her silent sobs grow louder as she clutches Nayoung tight. 

She has ignored the tension back in the dorm for too long, with hope that things will warm up the closer they get to the day Kyla returns. She should have known that Yebin, Sungyeon, and Junghyun would snap. She should have known that despite being older, Minkyung would let them say whatever they want, because being responsible and mature is something that she still needs to work on.

She calls the only member who she knows will have a cool enough head to see sense.

The other line picks up on the first ring.

 _“Is she with you, unnie?”_ Kyungwon’s voice rushes with worry over the line.

“She is,” Nayoung adjusts her arms so she can talk on the phone and hold Kyulkyung at the same time. “How is everyone?”

 _“Oh, thank goodness._ Unnie _, I’m so sorry, I tried to calm the others down, but—“_

“I don’t want to hear it,” she says, voice hard and cold.

 _Stone Nayoung_ is so much more than just a variety persona.

“Can you please ask everyone to gather in the dorm? I’ll be home in an hour and we can talk about this then.”

 _“Yes, of course, I’ll let everyone know,”_ Kyungwon replies softly. _“I’m really sorry,_ unnie. _”_

Nayoung ends the call.

She has a long night ahead. The world seems dreadful all of a sudden.

* * *

You would think after training for almost half a decade together, they would learn how to properly communicate their troubles and sorrows so they can figure it out together, as a team.

Nayoung realizes she is far too hopeful.

Last night was chaos, and she notices how her voice refuses to come out the next morning. She doesn’t bother slapping on any make up before she leaves the dorm in a cozy outfit, cap, and mask.

Anywhere else is better. 

As soon as she arrives at the new Pledis building, she texts the only person she wants to see at the moment, the only person who’d understand how she must feel, being a leader of so many members. 

“Nayoung,” Seungcheol greets her at the front lobby, face filled with concern. He rushes to her and pauses once he reaches an awkward distance. There is that hesitation that has never been there between them before. “I got your text, are you okay?”

Nayoung exhales, she can feel the emotional exhaustion that she has tried hard to ignore the previous night seeping in deep within her bones. She tugs him by the sleeve of his shirt and takes him to the lounge on the upper floor.

As soon as they get there, she sits on one of the sofas and buries her face to her hands in frustration. 

“Hey, hey,” Seungcheol sits next to her, a hand twitching in the air like he is about to reach her, before he keeps it back to himself. “Hey, can you tell me what happened?” 

Nayoung wishes she didn’t have to call him out of all people, but—

But, he was her friend first. He’s used to catching her when she falls.

“It’s the hiatus,” she tries to say around her painfully aching throat. Her voice only manages to come out as something just above whisper. Even then, Seungcheol has to lean in to be able to properly hear her. She clears her throat and tries again, this time whispering straight to his ear, “The girls got frustrated and decided to gang up on Kyulkyung.”

He offers her a sympathetic look, “Is she okay?”

“We spent all night talking things through,” Nayoung whispers. With a smile that doesn’t quite reach her eyes, she points at her throat, “We had to go all out.”

He looks unsettled, like as though he is holding himself back from saying what he really wants to say. With a look full of resolve, he clenches his hand and slowly reaches out to rub her head, “You’ve worked hard.”

Instantly, in reflex, Nayoung leans into the touch for old time sake.

She misses him.

She misses how easy this is, and she is glad Seungcheol is still readily available for her after deciding to keep their distance for a while.

“Are you feeling better?” Seungcheol asks, voice soft and tender.

Nayoung shakes her head, and he pulls her head gently so that she can lean on his shoulder. They stay like that for a while, in silence.

She thinks maybe it was easier with Seungcheol because he knew exactly what he wanted and didn’t hesitate in letting her know what they were. When he wanted Nayoung, he was straightforward and confident. When he changed his mind later and decided he wanted Jeonghan instead, he spent no trouble letting her know exactly that.

With Jonghyun—

She feels like she is constantly out of the loop, and even though she tries to keep up and go with the flow, improvising as Jonghyun takes whatever action that pleases him, you can only do so much when you don’t know what the scripts are where they are heading, if there is any destination at all.

Unlike Jonghyun, Nayoung has never been good at playing games. He might look at this as just another interesting challenge that he can play to kill time—

which, Nayoung knows, is _not true_ because he isn’t like that—but to Nayoung, this is her life.

She trusts Jonghyun with all that she has, but just like with Seungcheol, Nayoung will always prioritize herself first. What with everything that has been going on, with what’s going to happen once Kyla and Minhyun comes back, she thinks she is not ready for this.

She likes the spontaneity while it last, but she finds this to be too much.

“There you are,” someone else enters the room, snapping her from her thoughts.

Nayoung doesn’t have the energy to look up. She merely offers the newcomer a glance, and gives a small smile once she registers that the person is Dongho.

He stops in his track as he takes one look from her to Seungcheol, and then he narrows his eyes at her when it is clear to him that neither of them—especially her—is planning to change their position. Behind him, Jonghyun opens the door to the lounge with the same concerned look that Dongho has, and as soon as he spots Nayoung and Seungcheol, sitting close and pressed up against one another, he stops too, the concern in his face deepening into a frown.

“Hey,” Seungcheol greets them, casual and civil.

“Don’t you look cozy,” Dongho snorts as he steers to the pantry and pours himself a cup of coffee.

Jonghyun approaches them too with an unreadable expression and sits right next to her. 

Dongho shoots him a look, which gets ignored.

“Is Kyulkyung okay?” Jonghyun asks, tense and straight to business.

Nayoung meets his eyes and shakes her head. Then, she turns to Dongho, “She wants to see you,” she tries to say.

Dongho pauses mid-sipping, “What?”

“She said Kyulkyung wants to see you,” Seungcheol says for her.

“What happened to your voice?” Dongho frowns.

Nayoung opens her mouth again, but then she thinks better and nudges Seungcheol instead.

“The girls went all out,” Seungcheol responds within a second. “Nayoung tried hard to break it up.”

Dongho’s frown turns into a glare intense enough to make Nayoung feel guilty inside all over again. “You had one job,” he scowls.

Before Seungcheol gets the chance to say anything in her defense, Jonghyun snaps, “Dongho- _yah_.”

Dongho scoffs at him and mutters, “I’m going to go see her.”

Jonghyun nods, jaw clicking shut.

Without saying anything else, Dongho leaves his cup at the sink and walks away, presumably to visit Kyulkyung, wherever she is.

Jonghyun gets up next and head to the pantry. He pulls out a mug, a jar of honey, and Nayoung’s favorite brand of tea.

Nayoung doesn’t have to think hard to figure out what he’s doing, although she does wonder why he keeps doing this.

Seungcheol shifts a little, causing Nayoung to lift her head up to make sure he’s comfortable. Without saying much, Seungcheol takes off his cap and places it on her head, and then approaches Jonghyun with the easiness and the familiarity of someone who has known him forever. “You have schedule after this, here, let me do it so you can get ready.”

Jonghyun’s hand stills for a second before he continues fixing Nayoung’s tea with a tight smile, “I have time, it’s okay. Don’t you have somewhere else to be?”

“Concert practice doesn’t start until a little later,” Seungcheol says, folding his arm across his chest and leaning up against the counter next to Jonghyun. “I haven’t seen you lately. We need to catch up sometime.”

Tight smile still intact, Jonghyun pours a little bit of honey to her cup and begin stirring. “Of course, I’ll have Taehyuk-hyung arrange some time after you come back from your concert. 

Nayoung frowns at the blatant lie, since when does Jonghyun have to arrange an official schedule for a friend? 

Seungcheol lifts his brows, “That busy?”

Jonghyun shrugs, like as if trying to say, _you know how it is._

He finishes her tea and brings it to her, which she accepts with a murmur of, “Thanks.”

“Careful,” he says softly. “I can come with you to get your throat checked, if you want.”

His eyes glint in a way that she has never seen before, and realization slowly dawns. Perhaps, Jonghyun was never about finally wanting to get a girlfriend. Perhaps, it was also never really about avoiding that rookie idol that crossed his personal space.

Maybe it has always been about this, about allowing himself to be petty for the first time since his debut, about showing up to Seungcheol, to prove that despite the initial stump in his career, he is now rising fast in the industry’s ladder and he is loved more, by all age and gender, and is able to get anyone he wants wrapped under his fingers, including Nayoung. 

Or maybe— 

“Please,” Jonghyun adds, gentle eyes bringing warmth to her stomach. 

Maybe he just wants to help Nayoung get back at Seungcheol, even though she has never felt the need to do it.

Again, Nayoung will never know and can only play along until Jonghyun lets her in.

“You have schedule after this,” Nayoung says, not sure where she wants to go with this, with him. “I can go with my manager later.”

“I’ll feel better if I can come with you,” Jonghyun tells her. “I have time to take you there. I might not be able to stay for long though, if that’s okay with you.”

Nayoung wants to tell him that none of this is okay to her. This act, of Jonghyun being a confident romantic, of him being overly charismatic, of him playing her like one of those disposable pawns in his game, none of this screams okay.

She would like to know who he’s become, and why she didn’t see him slowly changing, under the short span of a year.

(She is not ready to say goodbye to the shy, awkward teenager she met all those years ago, whose smile was passionate, full of determination, and most of all, blinding innocence of having never been touched by this damned industry.)

“You guys _are_ together, then?”

They both turn to Seungcheol, who is currently looking at them in something almost like scrutiny. Nayoung has long been able to read Seungcheol’s expression, and she can detect confusion when she sees one.

Nayoung turns to Jonghyun to see his reaction, but his gaze remains fixated on Seungcheol in an oddly calculating look.

Looking at them back and forth, she feels like a naïve, little girl again.

She feels like she is going back to her five-year-old self, who used to think the sky is blue and the grass is green and her penny of thought is worthless in the world of _men_.

“You don’t have to say anything,” Seungcheol tells them in civil manner, eyes meeting Jonghyun’s unflinchingly. “I know it’s none of my business.”

Jonghyun does nothing for a long moment, just staring at him. “You’re right,” he responds so calmly that it settles a cold weight at the bottom of Nayoung’s stomach. “It isn’t.”

Seungcheol’s eyes widen for a fraction before they narrow again. His eyes flicker to Nayoung for a fleet of a second and says almost accusingly, “I see.”

Oh, for goodness sake.

She is so, so, tired.

She had fun while it last, but she can’t do this, not when she feels like she is slowly slipping away and having less control of who she is and what she wants. She needs to get away.

With one last look to Jonghyun, Nayoung stiffly gets up to her own two feet, “There is nothing to tell,” she forces her throat, ignoring the sharp scratch that she knows will not heal for another week if she keeps this up.

For the first time in a while, she thinks she finally knows what she wants.

She wants to get out of here, and just— _leave_.

So she does just that, and she doesn’t look back.

After six long years, she thinks the world is finally spinning again.

* * *

He finds her. 

It doesn’t take him that long, too.

She is back in the old building, staring back at her own reflection in one of the old dance studios, where the bright green walls have been painted to a darker color.

She sits and stares, and thinks. 

This room is where she met him, where she started her entire career. She feels like she can almost breathe in the faded memory that still lingers in the cold, dusty air.

He soundlessly approaches her and slowly sits next to her, eyes never leaving her reflection in the mirror.

This room is also where he broke down in tears after telling her how he is going to go to Produce to safe his hopeless career that hung by a single, thin thread, once upon a time.

“You left,” he says after a long silence.

“I did.”

“I’m sorry.”

Nayoung wants to take his hand and tell him it’s not his fault, except she can’t help but feel like it is.

“Did I make you feel uncomfortable?” he asks, and there is a hint of guilt in his voice. 

Voice still straining, Nayoung shakes her head. 

“I was waiting for you to say something. I know I shouldn't have assumed, but it seemed like you didn't mind.”

Nayoung turns away from the mirror to face him. As usual, he is barefaced and handsome.

“I didn't mind,” Nayoung finally says, and the silence in the room is loud enough that they can hear her soft whisper.

Confusion flashes in his eyes, “Then why…?”

“You were making me feel better, Jonghyun-ah. You made me feel like I still matter, like I’m still worth something even after Seungcheol and I broke up and my fame has reached its lowest point.”

The reality is Nayoung never dated Seungcheol, but it certainly feels like it. Another reality is Nayoung thinks she sounds extremely narcissistic like this, but she can’t ever help it. She joined this industry because she wanted to perform on stage, and she can only continue being under the spotlight as long as she is still relevant.

That relevance is fading away, and Nayoung is scared.

Jonghyun frowns, “Then what’s the problem?”

 _Me_ , Nayoung wants to say.

Instead, she asks him this, “Do you know why I stayed in this company?”

Despite the insecurity and fear of being mismanaged like her seniors, despite not having the guarantee of making it far in this industry.

Jonghyun pauses, and then turns somewhat bitter, “Seungcheol—“

Nayoung laughs, “No,” she cuts him off, because Nayoung barely recognized Seungcheol at the time, she was too enamored with Jonghyun to look around.

She exhales, “I stayed here because of you." 

Jonghyun’s eyes widen.

“You had so much faith in the company, in your members, that I can’t help but to feel safe here. You were the main reason I stayed the first few years I was here.”

“Were,” Jonghyun nods understandingly, kindly. “Until Seungcheol?”

“Do you hook your anchor in the same place forever?” Nayoung asks back instead. 

Jonghyun meets her eyes through the mirror. He looks astonishingly ethereal and Nayoung will never stop worshipping the ground he walks on. He offers a small, sad smile, “No.”

Nayoung nods.

“Is it still him, then?" 

“No,” Nayoung looks down at her hands, and it relieves her to know how the fact doesn’t affect her anymore, that she can say it and still feel okay. “It’s you again, after.”

Confusion flashes, “Then why—?”

“That’s the problem, don’t you see? I was, and _am_ supposed to be here for myself.”

How long has it been since she last loved herself first before anyone else? It took her six long years to get to this point, and the overwhelming emotion washes over at once. She swallows around the lump in her throat and bites her lip hard to stop the trembling. She doesn’t want to cry, not anymore.

“I need to be here and chase after my dream for myself, and not for you, or Seungcheol, or any of my members.” Her throat clenches. “Because if I’m doing this for anyone else, who will I have left when they all walk away and disappear, Jonghyun-ah?”

“Stop it, no one is walking away,” Jonghyun pushes his hair back in frustration. 

“Have you seen Illa?” Nayoung asks back, her smile tight and eyes never leaving his through the reflection in the mirror. “Have you seen Junghyun, threatening to follow after her footsteps?”

“Nayoung, Kyla is coming back, and Junghyun’s just—she’s young.”

Nayoung wants to snort. The sentence only sounded convincing the first ten times.

She takes a deep breath to calm herself and turns to him. Up close, she can see the lines of exhaustion in his face, and she wonders deep down on how someone can be so caring. “The point is, I need to stop relying on you or Seungcheol, or anyone else, and start learning on how to pick up my own mess. I need to do this because I want to, for myself, so that I can learn to still be happy if this turns out to be the last of Idol Im Nayoung.”

It is heartbreaking, and even to herself, it unmistakably sounds like her giving up.

“Don’t say that.” Jonghyun grits his teeth, like the idea is harder to accept for him than it is for her, and maybe it is, considering how five years of being in her position seem to blur by so quickly for him, while every second that ticks by seems to be just another second of dread for her. 

He rubs his face in frustration. “I’m sorry. I—I did thought of being with you, I _still_ do. You were so happy before, so I stayed away, but then someday you just smiled less, and you closed off, and I didn’t like that.”

“So you thought you could kiss the pain away?” Nayoung chuckles good-naturedly.

“I thought I could be a friend,” he says. “At first, that was all that I wanted. But then I thought maybe I waited long enough, and my career is—everything’s going well, and you were beautiful and heartbroken, and I just wanted you to be happy again.”

“I must have made the perfect damsel, yeah?”

“Nayoung, please,” Jonghyun takes her hand and entangles their fingers together. “I want to be with you because I feel like I could just be myself with you, because you saw me grow from a nobody wannabe to— _this_ , and somehow your perception of me never changed, and I’m thankful for that.”

If anything else, Nayoung thinks she can at least accept that.

"But I respect your wishes." Jonghyun says. "I understand how important it is to be able to feel happy and comfortable in your own skin first, so I'll back off."

Nayoung doesn't know what she did in her past life to deserve this angelic kindness. "Thank you."

"To me, your happiness matters more."

Feeling better, Nayoung asks to tease him, “So the charming prince mode, none of it had anything to do with Seungcheol?”

Jonghyun doesn’t immediately reply, though there is a flush in his cheeks. “He doesn’t have anything to do with how I feel about you, or how I’ve treated you this past few months.” he says almost too carefully. “Although I wish he was less of an asshole to you.”

“And the profile photo?”

“I genuinely liked it, Nayoung, please drop it.”

She lets out a heartfelt chuckle. She lets out a deep breath, and feels lighter and more carefree than she has ever felt before. She gives Jonghyun a smile and gets up.

After stretching her sore muscles away, she offers a hand to Jonghyun and pulls him up to his feet.

Her hand still in his, he asks with a teasing grin, “Is this what rejection feels like, then?”

“Hey, better luck next year.” Nayoung grins back, and she likes how it comes easily, naturally. “Maybe in 2019, when you’re tenfold richer, I'll reconsider.”

Jonghyun holds a hand over his heart and pretends to be in pain, inviting another chuckle from Nayoung.

Still holding his hand, she sways it between them and shakes it once. “Let’s work hard together, Jonghyun-ah.” 

Something lights up in his eyes, and he flashes her the same breathtaking smile from all those years ago.

She knows _exactly_ what he is going to say—

“I’ll do my best.”

—and the universe stops spinning.

And this time around, she finally knows how it feels to stand in the center among the thousand stars. 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry about Kyulkyung. 
> 
> I'm sorry about this fic in general, really. 
> 
> Did you like it please feed me with kudos and comments.


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